Ok I have been a long time lurker just reading up what people have done with their theater rooms. I have gained a lot of knowledge and figured I would share what I started with, and where I have gotten it to thus far.

My plan was to get an HD projector, cables, and screen for under $1000. I succeeded easily! :)

Projector: Optoma HD70 $399.00 clearance sale Best buy!!
Cables: HDMI/Component $50 Mono-price
Switches: $40 Walmart
Screen paint/trim/lights: $50 Home Depot

I bought this house and wanted a theater room and thought the cathedrial ceilings may affect it...
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n10/stud176/2605%20Clayton/Downstairs/IMG_6818.jpg
It did, but it enabled me to make the image huge! I am shooting the picture from about 18ft away, and the projector is 8 feet off the ground.
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n10/stud176/2605%20Clayton%20Renovations/IMG_7401.jpg
I painted the wall white with the Behr #4030 paint...it looks a bit different from the almond colored wall! (Not me in this pic, my friend who is acting as scale)
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n10/stud176/2605%20Clayton%20Renovations/IMG_7429.jpg
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n10/stud176/2605%20Clayton%20Renovations/IMG_7455.jpg
After reading about the benefits of ambient light, I put some blue rope lighting around it...soon this is going to LEDs though...the blue rope lighting looks too 'aqua' in color for my taste. I like how it lights up the peaks of the ceiling.

I have had to update my fan (lower profile, remote, dimmer), run my wires thru the crawlspace, and change up all of the drapes. The room was wired for sound so that has helped. I need to upgrade from my 5 year old Sony surround system and get something good!
I have a stadium seating setup in there, but have new reclining couches and loveseats on the way. I am building a riser and am contemplating putting in shakers under the new furniture..
What do you guys think so far?
I am building a bar tonite...but it goes in the other room. :)

Here is how the HD70 is mounted up...I built my own bracket out of some old metal hardware, wood, and PVC!
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n10/stud176/2605%20Clayton%20Renovations/IMG_7433.jpg
The projector is easy to tweak because all you have to do is go up the stairs a bit and do what you need to do.....I gotta hide these wires somehow though:mad: Ideas?
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n10/stud176/2605%20Clayton%20Renovations/IMG_7435.jpg
What would you guys do to make this look better? I can't make the projector any higher because the fan will interfear with the picture....thats as low as the projector can go.

If possible, find a small friend and route those wires through the ceiling.

Is that close to a 150" diagonal? How does that projector do with the brightness of the image at that large size?

If possible, find a small friend and route those wires through the ceiling.

Is that close to a 150" diagonal? How does that projector do with the brightness of the image at that large size?


Yeah I can route the wires up thru the ceiling but its going to cost me at least another $50 in cables and an afternoon...but it may be worth it to hide these wires. That center beam isn't hollow so I would have to drill it out and run some conduit or PVC to keep all the wires straight.

The brightness is pretty good actually. I had to turn it down once I painted the wall white. We never watch the projector during the day, but even then with the heavy drapes, you can still see the projector easily.

I think if I did my math right, the screen is about 155" roughly...which is very big when you are sitting 8 ft away! :)

And I thought I was going big in my living room at 120" diag - WOW!

I agree with routing the cables thru the ceiling. It will take more money, but in the end it will be worth it.

And I thought I was going big in my living room at 120" diag - WOW!

I agree with routing the cables thru the ceiling. It will take more money, but in the end it will be worth it.

Well I bit the bullet and ordered 50 ft of component cable, and 50 ft of the yellow coax...that should clean things up quite a bit...I am not looking forward to the attic/crawlspace time however..

Anyone else have this big of an image? I still can't get over how clear HD football/basketball and especially HOCKEY games look. Even standard DVDs w/ the free upconvert that came w/ my HD70 projector still look stunning. I can't even imagine what a 1080p projector would look like! :eek:
Thanks for your responses!

I wouldn't run the yellow (composite) cable at all. I would run an HDMI to be 'future proof' (you know when you want the HD Media player). Unless you have a VCR, composite isn't really needed. Plus I wouldn't want to watch a VCR on a 155" screen anyway.

Your upconverting DVD player should have HDMI and most of the newer players won't upconvert over component anyway.

If I were doing mine again, I'd run an HDMI and component only. Then use an HDMI switcher for my devices. I ended up running DVI, HDMI, and component to my HD72.

I wouldn't run the yellow (composite) cable at all. I would run an HDMI to be 'future proof' (you know when you want the HD Media player). Unless you have a VCR, composite isn't really needed. Plus I wouldn't want to watch a VCR on a 155" screen anyway.

Your upconverting DVD player should have HDMI and most of the newer players won't upconvert over component anyway.

If I were doing mine again, I'd run an HDMI and component only. Then use an HDMI switcher for my devices. I ended up running DVI, HDMI, and component to my HD72.

Yeah the composite yellow isn't really needed. However I have the YWR composite cables up under the screen running to a splitter for the x-box and Wii, and anything else someone may bring over and want to hook up. I just basically figured if I was going to all the work, I might as well run these too. I have my component cables run to a splitter and have my DVD and DVR run off of that...but thats all directly under the projector (why the wires are hanging as they are). I have composite cables, and the digital coaxial cable running underneath the floor the length of the room. I kept the Component cables as short as possible.

And to end any confusion, the reason I ran the stereo and composite cables up front was that the room was already wired for sound, but the stereo reciever had to be hooked up right under the screen....

i would suggest the same thing as sivartk. I have the same projector, screening at 148" . i ran HDMI to the receiver and all of my component, coax, s-video, ect... run from the receiver. Save me a lot of trouble and HDMI upconverted very well.
As for the wiring, you could run it thru the white pipe and run it along the wall, there is a cover plate that you can cover the wires and paint it to match the wall color. I would suggest to run it to the artic.

By the way, you can go download the Optoma rebate form and get $200 back, I just received my check a few days ago.