Help me Design my 2:35 home theater

Well, you can plan on roughly $5k of your budget going to the lens. Leaving $10k for your screen and pj. I own, and am a huge fan of, an acoustically transparent screen. Are you interested in DIY or do you just want to buy a screen thats ready from a box? Pretty much everything you want to know is dependent on another factor, so you need to start with one decision and work from there, be it screen size that you want, the pj you want, etc. Choose one variable and it helps figure out the rest.

-Sean

Well, some people decide I want a screen that is X big. From there they look at which PJ can work with a screen of X size and the diminsions of their room (throw ratio and lens shift being main limiting factors along with lumens), and then which screen company makes a screen of X size that works best with the PJ they then decided on. Or you want X PJ, then figure out how big of a screen X PJ will make in your room and then decide on X screen. I'm sure you understand where I'm going with this.

Being that it is a dedicated theater room, I assume you will mostly be watching movies. If you are wanting to step into the 3d world, I would currently say hold off on getting the PJ as of right now and wait for 2nd gen 3d PJs to come out hoping all kinks will be resolved. Where are you as far as PJ choice? Have you looked at a few and can't decide or are you completely open? Are you looking for entry level, or higher end? I'd say with the budget you offered you could go around $7k for the PJ if you wanted, or you could go with a lower priced PJ and save $$.

As for the sump pump, I'm not a home owner yet and don't know what it is, does it make noise when it turns on? If so, it is likely a distraction and will constantly annoy you when it interupts movie viewing.

The I beam sounds like where you will want to mount your PJ so you ensure light beam clearance. So you are looking at around a 14' throw give or take a few inches for PJ dimensions and if you decide not to go with an Acoustically Transparent screen. Or you can mount it further back, just don't forget to take the I beam into consideration when doing so. Or maybe I'm missreading and the ceiling will be the same height throughout, just that its lowered by said I beam?

We need to start somewhere. Have you been down to the room and used tape to measure off different screen sizes and stepped back to a rough idea of where you'd like the seats to see how big you felt comfortable with? Again, seating distance is based off of screen size, so if you know where you want the seats that would help.

-Sean

If you can light it, a 14 foot Scope screen will be very nice in that size room.

I am sure someone posted a you-tube video of a JVC + Panamorph 380 projecting 14 feet wide onto a wall. It seemed to look reasonably bright. I know from experience the new JVC X series projectors will do 12 feet without issue.

It was linked to this forum by one of the members. Sorry I can't remember the tread title.

From the numbers that are coming out from other JVC forum threads, this does not seem possible. 500 lumens after 200 hours on a bulb is not going to cut it...............

12-14 foot wide is 3 chip DLP territory............

I think somtimes you need to take the figures with a grain of salt. The guys You-Tube video (still can't find the link) showed the image as very bright and he was projecting onto a wall to test how large he could go.

I have a friend with a JVC X3 with way more than 200 hours. He uses an MK4 lens and a screen slightly wider then 12 foot. It is plenty bright even when running 3D content. He used to run a SONY WV60 and would replace the lamp at about 1500 hours.

I do sometimes wonder what the obsession is with cooking one's retina.