Hey guys,

I'm just beginning the search for a projector (my first) and am wondering about the all important ambient light. The phrase is thrown out there constantly with little explanation.

When watching a movie, do you have zero ambient light, ie. watching in pure darkness? Even theatres have a little light.

I quess what I'm asking is, what kind of lighting do you use for optimal viewing and where abouts are they situated?

theater dark is fine. my room is light controled. but a small amount of light has no affect. i think most are talking about windows and how lit your living room is.

From my own personal experience:
-HD72 mounted 9.5' from a 73" diagnal screen.
-I have a matte white screen so probably the worst for ambient light.
-Pale green walls.
-I have sliding glass doors about 6 Ft. from my screen and they are covered by verticals. So during the day I do have a lot of diffused lighting in the room.

Daytime viewing for me is limited to sports which still look really good and have plenty of contrast and pop. If I try to watch a Television show like Law and Order or CSI or anything that has a lot of dark scenes it is tough and I get a noticeably washed out pictures.

Night viewing I always have all the lights in my house off and the picture is awesome. Their is quite a bit of ambient light reflecting off my walls from the light bouncing off the screen. I dont have the bat cave that many people on the forums strive for. I do like being married after all:) As long as I dont turn lights on that directly hit the screen the image is still great.

Darker the better but you will still get a very nice image with less than perfect conditions.