I am trying to decide if a CRT projector will work in my situation. I am looking to have around a 110" screen. Right now I am looking at a Barco 808 or a NEC XG or similar. I can control the outside light coming into the room.

My question is if I would be able to watch the projector when I have people over and want some lights on? I know it wouldn't look as good, but would it be watchable?

Thanks,

Scott

A 110" screen is pushing it for an 8" machine unless you plan on using a torus or similar.

If the light isn't reflecting on the screen you should be fine, lights on a dimmer switch at the back of the room would be OK

what do you think would be the biggest screen size I should go with? I would want it 16:9 and will be mostly be watching HDTV and movies

Thanks,

Scott

Basic rule 8" CRT not over 8' wide. See what you can find in the 94-96" wide range. If you have more ambient light 92"-94". Note that we use width of screen. NEC manuals are wrote in 4:3 diag. Doug

I wouldn't go any bigger than 8' wide unless you are using a high gain or torus screen.

You can look on Curt's site and find one of the brighter models. I have a Sony 1272 throwing on an 8' wide screen and I can tell you much light on, even with dimmers, affects the quality. But the 1272 doesn't throw much light compared to other pj's. Another factor to consider is room color, including carpet and ceiling. Reflected light from a light colored paint will help wash out the picture.
Dave

IMO any front projector CRT or Digital look better in total darkness, it’s the nature of the beast. It is hard to make a white screen look black when there are lights in the room. I have seen people put pin spots in the ceiling pointing down in the seating area keeping the light off the screen and that somewhat effective.

Mike

I am trying to decide if a CRT projector will work in my situation. I am looking to have around a 110" screen. Right now I am looking at a Barco 808 or a NEC XG or similar. I can control the outside light coming into the room.

My question is if I would be able to watch the projector when I have people over and want some lights on? I know it wouldn't look as good, but would it be watchable?


Narrow spot lights where you need them are much less bad than ambient light in the room.

I installed ~10 degree PAR16 narrow spot lights in eyeball fixtures for my seating and coffee table in a mixed use room and while not up to videophile standards a lot of source material was watchable with them on low.

I've got a Barco 808s running an 84" screen, and it's watchable with some wash light coming in from a half open door to a medium-lit room outside. And that's with a lot of nasty ambient from the white ceiling (which, hallelujah, is being painted dark dark matte brown...). I wouldn't want to watch a movie without pitch black, but I haven't tried low spot lighting toward the back. Depends what you want to keep in terms of black levels; for me the brightness seems good until the blacks come up so gray it's a moot point anyway.

This is with an 84" screen though. You're going to see, what, 30% less brightness overall if you're at 100" or so? Maybe more? I'm running SD DVD upscaled, so I wouldn't want much more field of view anyway as it just lets you see the source flaws better.

I have recessed lights and watch my XG with some light when I need to.
Best to buy a dimmer and change your light switch out with one dimmer with remote. They are cheap.
IF you have darker color walls it helps as well.
Size of the screen.. I am running an 8" wide which is 110" diagonal and looks good but not really bright unless I crank up the contrast. With contrast 50 with a screen such as Carada you should be very happy with brightness in total dark and is very watchable with some ambient as long as they are not directed to the screen. XG's are bright projectors.