Official Panasonic PT-AE3000U OWNERS Thread. - Page 116

I have to agree with others on this. It depends on what you watch most of the time. My room is too small to have a 2.35 image the same height as the 16:9 I have now. I have mine masked to 2.35 for movies but when my parents come over tomorrow night to watch the lakers, it will be on the full 100" 16:9 screen. To have the capability of a truly huge screen in a small room, 16:9 has more effect for Sports events.

Agreed, if you have a wide enough screen wall. Unfortunately I do not. When I built my theater 2.35 wasn't really a consideration, but next time......

Thanks guys for all the comments - unfortunately I am still confused..my viewing is 50% HD sports (Basketball and NFL) and 50% movies - would it help if I give the room dimensions - 19'Lx15'w...the wall on which the screen would go is - 7.5 ' (h) x 15' - I was thinking of getting a 104" (diagonal) Carada BW screen (viewing from first row of seats to screen is appprox 10')..

Thanks!

Max

If you are good with a 104" 16x9 for FD and Sports (and who wouldn't be) it sounds like you should go with the 2.35 because you have the width even with speakers to each side. Should be sweet!

You have a similar room that I have. My room is 13' W x 19' L x 10'. To me, if you have a 7.5' high ceiling, I personally would go with the 2.35 screen even if you watch sports 50% of the time. I have a 103" Elite Screen, which is 8' wide. That leaves me 2.5' on each side for my speakers. My primary viewing position is 11' from the screen. I do not feel like it is too big nor too small. Although I do not watch sports, I do play PS3 games on it which is in 16:9 and do not feel short changed or missing something. Feel free to check out my build thread in my signature below. I just posted recent pics yesterday of the completed theater room (see page 8) and I posted many screenshots on page 5. To me, 2.35 gives much more of an immersive experience than 16:9 but that is JMO. Good luck in whatever you decide.

Update...just got off the phone with the Carada rep - he suggested with the Panny 3000 to go with a 16X9 and get the masquerade system with it (problem is - it becomes too costly for me)...he said u will get more pop with the 16x9 (bigger sized image - especially when I watch football)...I would love to get the masquerade to have the best of both worlds...also on the ceiling - my ceiling is over 10' but 3' of it is slightly angled (added a pic - forgive my bad pic)...so even though I have over 10' of ceiling space my usable screen wall height is close to 7.5'

thanks for all the comments!

Max

reps are going to sell you what they want to sell you. the benefit that you have from asking guys on this forum is actual hands on experience. I would suggest to anyone who plans to use a panny 3000 to go 2.35:1 regardless the room size and viewing distance.

The way I am cooking my DIY adjustable top masking, which allows me to achieve both a 92" wide 2:35 screen and a 92" wide 16:9 screen, is to order my motorized 16:9 92"x52" screen with extra black drop (< $100 to get 22" total). In the higher position (8" drop exposed) I get 16:9, and the bottom of the screen is 27" off the floor. There is also a black acoustic panel running the full width of the screen, from the floor to 27" high, positioned an inch in front of the screen. When I lower the screen an additional 14" (22" drop exposed) I now have a 2.40 image, bottom justified to the same 27" height. I added another $270 for Da-Lite's SCB-200 controller that allows me to program these screen positions and call them from their IR-200 remote ($85). So the sum total for this automated variable drop system is around $400 on top of the motorized screen.

(I'm also adding side masking by means of motorized drapes, so I also have the option for CIH across 2:40, 1.78, 1.33 ratios, but that's not your question...)

If you're using a fixed screen--sorry, this is not a solution for you. As I have windows behind the screen, I need access to them when not watching movies, so the motorized option serves multiple purposes for me.

I drew up a mock up using your room dimensions and drawing it to scale to give you a visual of how each would compare. As suggested, if you feel that you are loosing too much real estate with the 2.35, move up to a larger screen (maybe a 110" or 120"). If I had an extra 2' in my room, I would have went with a 110" screen but I would not have been able to toe in my main speakers if I did that and that I could not justify. With you having 15' wide room as opposed to my 13' wide room, I would definitely do the 110" or 120" screen.

The image below is drawn to scale.
The brown color represents your wall
Red box is the 2.35 screen
Black box is the 16:9 screen.

It really depends on what you are looking for and what is most important to you. I personally love the scope screen. Hope that helps.

^^

Well done youthman!

I love my 2.35:1 screen and it is 115" wide in my 15' wide room...

Thanks a ton folks (especially Youthman)...the more I think abt it it - I am leaning more towards the 2.35:1..(with my 7.5' height on the screenwall - I did some rough measurements - calculated the riser height as 11" keeping mind that the bottom of screen will be 32"from the floor - I have a height of approx 51" to work with - I took 6.5" from the top of the wall...and checked dimensions on the carada website - would not be able to fit the 104 in 16:9)

wow...makes me think I can go bigger on my 2.35:1 screen

laugsbach, sounds like you have the perfect size for your room. As you can see from my room below, I had a custom cabinet/false wall built and decided not to go with the 110" screen because it was already going to be a tight fit for my main speakers with a 103" screen. Would I go bigger if I could, sure. Do I feel like 103" is too small, absolutely not. This is my first projector and the biggest TV I've ever owned was 32" so this was a HUGE upgrade for me either way.

Yeah I totally think you can. I wouldn't go crazy big but stepping up to a 110" I think is totally doable. My rear riser is 11" as well. Definitely a good height for my setup. No worries about not being able to see over the people in the front row.

Maximus, if you take a photo of your front wall, and tell me what size screen you are using, I'll use photoshop to draw up a sketch for ya. What type speakers do you have? I'll look those up too and add them.

you can i would not go over 120" dia.(2.35:1) for a 10' view

Hi Youthman,

Again my apologies on the pic from my iPhone camera.....speakers I am thinking for getting the Def Tech 7004 and CLR 2002 as the center...I think I should stick with the 104" (2.35:1) than get greedy and realize I over did it....thanks again for your help...and thanks to all the others for commenting...

Max

Quick Qs for those of you with approx 135" diag 2.35:1 screens using the panny zoom setting.

Is it bright enough? would you go bigger? What gain is your screen? How many hours on your lamp? Projector mounted as close to screen as possible?

I know could look at all the calculators and see for myself, but im hoping for some real life feedback.

I am in the great position of being able to design my house around my theatre. Currently I am looking at going with a screen somewhere in the 130" to 150" diag size range. (I know 150" is really pushing it...)

here is what I am working with:

Room size: whatever. Completely light controlled. Dark walls/ceilings: paint/fabric (current plans for room is a 16'4" by 19'7")
seating distance: whatever I choose.
Projector mounted on ceiling.
Screen fabric is advertised as 1.26 gain.

Cheers!

Yes
No
1.24
740
Yes

I have a 125" diag 2.35:1 screen in a completely light controlled room. My answers are:

Yes.
Yes, slightly bigger...
1.16 AT screen.
< 200 hours.
No, near the middle of the range.

I think you're putting too much emphasis on the diagonal measurement in this comparison when you should be thinking about screen height. As you can see from Youthman's diagram the screen height varies quite a bit between 16:9 and 2.35 even though the 104" diagonal is the same. If you have the wall space and don't go for a larger diagonal 2.35 to equal the same height as the 16:9 you'll be shortchanging yourself on 50% of what you watch (actually more than that because not all movies are in cinemascope).

hello...

i'm a new PT-AE3000 owner and have a question that I couldn't find in the thread. For a permanent ceiling installation, are most of you leaving the projector in standby mode or shutting the AE3000 completely down after a viewing session? Would it hurt the projector to leave it on standby 24/7?

i shut mine down

Not sure but I leave mine in standy mode 24/7.

Maximus, I tried to get as close to scale as possible. I first cropped your image in perspective so that I have a relatively straight on shot of your room. I used centimeters as the measurment 1cm would represent 1ft. I resized your image to 15cm W x 10cm H. That left me with approx 7cm for the height of your usable wall. I converted the dimensions of the speakers from ft into cm and resized them accordingly. I did the same with the Carada screens. I only used the viewable measurements and added a colored stroke to the outside of that area to represent the border of the screen. The border of the screen is NOT drawn to scale. The diagram might be a little off but should give you a descent idea of comparison.

I sketched out the 104" and 120" screens. If it were my room, I would go with the 112" or 120". The 112" would be somewhere in between the black and red frames.

Ignore how much these speakers are toed in. That's the angle the photos were taken.



Only difference in this image and the above image is I cropped the main speakers in perspective so that they would look straight ahead, not toed in.



Here you can see the rulers that I used. Again, 1cm represents 1ft



Hope this helps.

Standby mode 24/7/365 for three projectors in a row since 2003 and never had a problem other than expected multi-thousand hour bulb life. Heck, what good is remote control on/off if you aren't really supposed to use it?

Leave it in Standby thats what one does for ceiling mounted projectors!

Thanks for all your feedback, guys!

Thanks a ton Youthman....definitely helps...if it is ok with you will be PM'ing you from time to time to pick your brain abt my install....first I will go thru your Theater build thread to glean all the info I can get...had one HT installer swing by this morning...he was trying to push me towards an Optoma 8000 or JVC RS 10...I am inclined more towards the Panny...having another guy (ISF certified) come by this afternoon to take a look at my room...

Thanks guys for chiming in with your comments..

Max

Maximus, what are all of those wall plates in your picture? I can imagine audio jacks for LCR speakers. But that accounts for only half of them.

I'm collecting thoughts for my eventual theater build.