Potential first time projector buyer. Always seen projectors in stores and thought the picture looked like crap. I saw one recently in a buddy's house properly set up and now I'm hooked. I've got a small 12 X 12 room with 8 ft ceiling that has one small window that doesn't get much sun. I'll be watching mostly movies, big sports games(don't want to be sitting in the dark), and playing XBOX.

The budget is 1,500 for everything. I've already got a decent upconvert DVD player, so I need a audio system, projector, diy screen, and all the other misc stuff. I've decided to go with the Mits HC1500 for the projector.

From my calculations, it looks like I can get an 80-90 inch screen from around 11 feet. The viewing distance will be a couch shoved up against the end wall, so basically around 11-12 feet. Need advice from the experts, does this sound like a good decision?

Also, any ideas on a cheap home theater in a box set(speakers and receiver). Do I have to buy a good receiver to pass through the HDMI signals from my cable box and upconvert dvd player?

Thanks for the help

you could do it, with my HD70 I can get a 90 inch screen with the projector against the wall which is 11'5". I think the pj is about 10'8" from the front to the wall giving that 90 inches. the PJ calculator I thought said I shoud get at least 92, but its not completely accruate. Are you going to leave it on the floor or table or mount it on the ceiling? If its in front of the couch you'll probably get less than 90. If you mount it to the left or right of the couch you'll get some funny looking picture shape without doing lens shift.
I think you can do everything for your budget if you buy a DIY screen and not so expensive sound system. I would spend enough on the reciever so that it will work for the future if you decide to go HD player to compliment your pj, which I highly recommend-there is a big difference between HD and upconverted SD. Anyway I think you could get away with spending 400 bucks on a reciever and be safe for the future. you can check the HD forums for what those guys are buying. Just make your own screen, in the DIY screen section I just posted some shots of my budget black screen from jo anns which cost 17.28 and its 110 inches. You can buy some speakers with what you saved from the homemade screen
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=935215

Take a look at the Onkyo HT-SR800 for a very affordabe audio/speaker system and use an HDMI powered switch from Monoprice.com rather than an HDMI passthrough receiver.

I got the Philips HTS3544 for $199.95 @ Wal-Mart and it is awesome. Comes with a progressive scan dvd player/receiever. I tested it against systems upto $600 there and it was the best one, espeically for the price. I hook it up with a optical to digital coaxial (through a cheap optical to digital coaxial converter) and it sounds wonderful, but even with just red/white RCA hookups it was very nice.

My room isn't much bigger and I very happy with the setup and the price I paid for it

Victor

I think you will be fine with that set up. Get an HDMI cable from www.monoprice.com

Onkyo has the best all in one speaker reciever systems, but you might want to pop into the reciever and speaker forums to find out if there is some incredible deal on a speaker receiver combo going on. You can also get speaker wire from monoprice.

Had another quick question for you guys. Does zooming in the projector have any effect on the picture clarity or brightness. For the Mits HC1500, it looks like I will get somewhere around 80 inches with no zoom and close to 92 with full zoom. Does zooming change anything besides just the size of the image?

Thanks