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To Project or Not to Project...

777 views 10 replies 6 participants last post by  ben38 
#1 ·
My 3 year old tossed a book at my 59" Sammy Plasma... Screen cracked, TV dead, 3 year old alive and well :)

Now I have the brilliant idea. Go projection... bigger screen, potentially less destructible (non-fixed screen). I was figuring on an electric 120" screen with a Sony VPLHW40ES. Projector can be mounted anywhere up to 18' from screen.

Now here is where I am having hesitation... Ambient light. The room is a 20'x13' sunken living room (4' sunken) with a wall of windows facing West which have blackout curtains but also a great view. North and South facing windows are 2'x4' and the screen (when down) would block the south facing window. It can be dark in the room when shades are drawn. Ambient light comes from the open side of the room (4'ish tall open length of room) along the 20' dimension (minus 4' built-in cabinets next to where screen would be mounted). Now my concern is watching tv during daytime.. I had a thought of hanging the backup tv (42" panny plasma) on the wall behind the screen for daytime watching, but that makes the projector less desirable. Will a grey screen help me? Would moving up to the VPLHW55ES be better or is there a better projector? How do I determine if there is too much ambient light (before making the big purchase)? Can I measure it with my Smart phone's light meter?
 
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#2 ·
1) put a curtain on the opening.
2) with ambient light, I would't go high end. You won't benefit from any high CR on the more expensive ones.

This is my dilemma as well. Without a bat cave, higher end PJ like Sony, JVC, etc. are wasted.. Just my take..

My view (FWIW) is to get a cheap screen and Benq 1070 from someplace like Visual Apex.

And yes, go projector!
 
#3 ·
Go for a projector with at least 2000 lumens for ambient light. My Otoma HD131xe was $730 at BestBuy, has 2500 lumens and is bright enough to watch comfortably in a fully lit room. But with any projection system to get the most benefit you need the darkest room that you can have.
 
#5 ·
The Optoma hd131xe is the exact same projector as the 25e except it's black and much cheaper. The tiny listed spec differences aren't reflected in actual measurements and they've even been given the same firmware/updates in the past.

If there's a chance of using a closer throw-distance, the Benq w1070 offers a brighter image with about 3X brighter colors that are both more accurate AND help cut through a bit of light in the room without looking all washed-out.
 
#8 ·
The rbe is another area where the w1070 beats any of the Optoma choices.
 
#9 ·
Listen to Ftoast, guys. The Benq1070 kicks the Optoma's butts in every way that matters. Pay no attention to the ridiculous lumen numbers Optoma claims. I've seen all of these projectors many times. (Never owned any of them) The Optomas have pumped up whites, which is why they look brighter. But all this extra white brightness throws off all the other colors. If you must stay with Optoma, get the Older HD25 in good shape with a new bulb.
 
#10 ·
I can project from anywhere in the room up to 18-19' away. Should I go with a short throw BenQ? Or the 1070? I'm on the fence between Optoma and BenQ. BenQ was my first choice before the Sony then I thought I would be disappointed and decided to spend more and buy the Sony. Now with the feedback on this thread, I'm thinking about going back to the lower end. I'm in no hurry, the 42" Panny plasma is working fine. It sits in front of the broken (hung on wall) 59" Sammy plasma which makes it closer to us than the Sammy was.
 
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