Finally. Next month I pull the trigger. I'm about 99.8% sure my sports room dictates I need the flexibility of an LCD pj.

For grins, piece of mind, and under $1200 bucks. Anyone know of a DLP that will either shelf mount or ceiling mount with these obstacles?

My room is 16'8 ft deep. However an I-beam runs across it at the 7 foot mark. The floor to the bottom of the beam is 7'1. I haven't found a DLP than can offset it ceiling wise if I hang it just behind the beam and keep the screen off the floor. Shelf wise is the same problem. From about 15 ft back (lens to screen), I can't project and keep the screen just under the beam either.

Just double checking myself and making sure I didn't miss anything. Right now I have the go ahead to buy the cheaper Benq W500 (with a battle to the wire to jump up to the Panny AX200).

ps. I'll lose that battle but win the war.

Anyways I digress. This is my first foray into Projectors. I've been building and planning my room for over a year. Now it's time to put the heart in it and I just want to make sure I can't make a DLP work. The Mits 1500 lumen output is where I'd love to go. But I don't think it will happen.

This site is the greatest. Glad to be near the finish line.

The HC1500 will work fine. You just need to angle it upward and use keystone. That's what I did with my HD1000 and 6'8" ceiling, and it looks great.

Angle and use keystone? Aren't those both evil words in the pj world?

So I can hang the Mit's say about 10'6 back from the screen and just angle it a fuzz to get it off the top of the wall and it won't distort the picture?

Dang...this opens things up a bit more. Anyone else angling and using keystone with good results? Wonder if an angled mits that is shelf mounted at 15 feet would work as well.

I've heard alot of people say keystoning will reduce picture quality but I have my mits pointing up at a slight angle and have the vertical keystone at +3 and the picture looks perfect. I couldnt install my machine without keystone and almost didnt buy it until I saw someone else doing this same thing and they had a great image.

If you want to mount it pretty close to the ibeam the Sharp DT500 would be perfect. It can be mounted closer to the screen than the Mits and it has less offset so you would not have to use any keystoning or do any tilting of the projector. It is very bright and throws a great picture, it would be a perfect fit. If you don't mind mounting the projector further back from the beam you may want to take a look at the Infocus 7210. It is also a great projector. Both can be had for 1K exactly. If you knew roughly the size screen you wanted and how many feet back you want the projector we could give you better advise.

Moe

One thing I tried in the same situation is to tilt the top of the screen out away from the wall (or bottom away from the pj depending on situation) a few degrees to eliminate the need for keystone.

My room ceiling height is 6’4’ and I was able to put in a 6’ height 120” screen. DLP ceiling mounted projector level and zero keystone. So don’t give up the ship yet. I used the Sharp XR10X that is a close cousin to the Sharp DT500 mentioned above. Both support lower drop heights. So it can be done.

You called your room a “sports room” and that brings to mind some ambient light being desired. You are right in wanting something higher in the lumen range I think and in that type of room lumens may buy you a lot more than high CR numbers.

The Optoma 7100 has lens shift

The new Optoma HD71 is reported to have about 15deg of throw angle .. about half compared to most other budget DLP's.

That being said, +1 for angling the Mits. I use +3 vertical keystone and you cannot tell the difference when viewing HD video ... even when really looking for it. If you're using it for a PC desktop, yes, you can tell if you look closely, but on video, no.

Jonathan

What screen are you pairing it with? (Like a fine wine and cheese...)
:)

The HC1500 will work fine. You just need to angle it upward and use keystone. That's what I did with my HD1000 and 6'8" ceiling, and it looks great.

+1
I did this same exact setup pretty much...My ceiling is 6'8" and i am throwing from 19 ft. I just put a strip of soft rubber under the front of the PJ to tilt it up and then used a very slight keystone to straighten it out. (Dont be fooled by the people that say keystone hurts the picture because you cant tell at all). The picture looks fabulous.
By the way, my PJ is inverted on a shelf in the very back of my room.
Also, 1 tip..If you frame your screen and use velvet on the border to suck up light, this will help eliminate the angles created from tilting the PJ. Just expand the picture to fill the entire screen area and let the Velvet do its magic.

Thanks for all the replies. It was killing me at work being able to read but not respond (Work blocks out most websites but spanish to english Google translator gets you in).

Screen: Designer White Laminate.
Size: Predicated on which projector I go with. Ideally I would like a 100 inch screen. But unless I get the smoothscreen Panny. People on my couch that runs along the wall will fall into the 1.5 rule.

But it does sound like I can tweak a Mits 1500 via angling and a bit of Keystoning if I want to.

Dang. I better revisit the pj calculator and do some more cipherin'.

I have a Tosh A2 so I really don't need the chip in Benq W500 and that is it's main attraction. Although it's lumens are respectable for sports viewing.

Lighting isn't to big an issue. I built my cave with four 40 watt dimmable spotlights and curtains on the walkout won't let anything hit the screen directly.

DLP definetly helps my biggest issue which is SDE for a roomfull. The Panny would eliminate it. But the Mit's overall picture and lumens have me leaning that way as well.

Decisions....Decisions.....

also, I have a 19ft throw with my mits hd1000 (extra lumens from HC1500 would be even better) and i can sit at ANY angle and see perfectly. Plus i can sit as close as 7.5 ft from a 129" screen without noticable SDE. from 10+ ft the picture is incredible. So i guess thats pretty much a 1.1 to 1 ratio and still awesome. Hope that helps.