I am in the process of making a theater room. I was thinking about the Optoma HD70 (but I would be willing to spend more if someone thought something else would work better for me). The max seating distance is 8 feet so I was planning on getting a 92" diagonal screen with the Optoma.

Will that be OK at the distance. I don't want any screen door effect. The room is quite dark and can be completely dark if desired (but I'd like to be able to have a light on or something if we have people over for football or something).

Would the Optoma work for this distance? Would the AX200U be better? And what kind of screen should I go with (gray? White? type?)

I know, lots of questions! Thanks for your time and assistance!

I'm watching on a 110 with the HD70 from 8 ft away and there is no screen door, I think 10ft is a more comfortable viewing spot, but generally you want to be 1.5 times the screen size from the screen, so ideally you'd want to be 11.5 ft away from the screen. Even on our 135 you can sit 8ft and still not see the screen door, although its really to close to sit since your eyes have to move all over the screen, but in order to see the screen door, I have to be just a few ft from the screen. So I'd say your safe, but do yourself a favor and project it on the wall first so you can see what 92 looks like, cause after a while it seems small. As far as the projector I think its great, and for the price it can't be beat, I've read great things on that ax200U which I think can project a bigger image from the same distance as the HD70 if this is a concern in a small room. Check on bulb prices cause I think the AX bulb is 100 bucks more to buy replacements for. You can run a light with the HD70 as ong as its not super bright and its a little in the distance, my dad always has lights on with the projector going. As far as screens I've always gone cheap, and have never had any complaints. Hell even on a piece of unpainted drywall the picture looked great, not as bright as a regular screen, but slightly better contrast because of the darker grey color. I don't notice any real difference in picture quality from projecting on the white wall vs white screen.

I am in the process of making a theater room. I was thinking about the Optoma HD70 (but I would be willing to spend more if someone thought something else would work better for me). The max seating distance is 8 feet so I was planning on getting a 92" diagonal screen with the Optoma.

Will that be OK at the distance. I don't want any screen door effect. The room is quite dark and can be completely dark if desired (but I'd like to be able to have a light on or something if we have people over for football or something).

Would the Optoma work for this distance? Would the AX200U be better? And what kind of screen should I go with (gray? White? type?)

I know, lots of questions! Thanks for your time and assistance!

That's a squeeze. Rule of thumb is 1.5 times screen width or more. Prepare to observe some SDE especially in the credits. The Panny 'smoothscreen' should help but 1080p should be a consideration for viewing that close. (which means waiting if you want an HD70 price).