Projector for 165 inch Da Lite High Power screen

can you stretch the budget to include the Epson 5010? It has better black levels / contrast than the 3010 and has the valuable lens shift to be able to center the projector as close to eye level as possible for max gain on that large screen.

I have a 142" 2.8HP and the 5010 looks excellent on this material. The HP raises all light equally, so i'd prefer the projector with the best black levels for a quality 2D/3D image with the HP.

Hi sling_ca,

I'm currently using an 8350 as a temporary projector in our basement batcave theatre. ( CRT died before replacement funds were in place ). 165" diagonal 16x9 screen goo CRT white screen .. probably about 1.4 to 1.5 gain.

The Epson has no problem lighting up the screen, even in Theatre low lamp. Now, our theatre is total blackout with black walls / ceiling / carpet. Considering the gain you have with the HP, I'm sure you could make it work even if you have lighter walls and a bit of ambient light. You'd just have to rely on high lamp, and one of the higher brightness modes.

Before moving into the batcave basement I was going to use the 8350 to replace an aging Epson 400 in our livingroom theatre. It was shooting onto a 92" HP with no ambient light control and was blinding in dynamic.

I think I'm the only one who notices the blacks in the batcave theatre, but then again it's temporarily replacing a CRT, so, I'm kinda sensitive to it. The Wife doesn't see any issue with the blacks.

Hope this helps,

Jonathan

zombie10k,
Would the Acer-H9500BD, which has some optical lens shift used with an HP screen, be brighter for him in 3D than an Optoma HD33 with no lens shift used with an HP screen ? Is an Acer-H9500BD and an HP screen a good match ?

Overall, I'd say the Epson 5010 is the best bet for this poster.

According to the online reviews, the hd33 is brighter in 3D mode than the Acer, the hd33 is about the same as the Benq w7000 in 3D mode (1000+ lumens, give or take).

The Acer 9500bd also has the pixel mapping issue.

I have a jvc rs10 and it lights up my 133" high power with PLENTY of head room to use lower iris and bump up as the bulb ages. The HD250 is the same thing and you could probably find one or the other in the $1000 range. Very good native blacks and power zoom and lense shift.

I really doubt he can find an HD250 in the $1000 range. Mits hc4000 is a bad idea for 140" screen. The hd33 can do 140" screen if you count the 1.3 to 1.4 gain you will get with the HP screen at the Optoma's offset position. Before the poster asked about 165" screen, 165" too big for the hd33 even with gain, 140" is fine (should even be relatively ok in 3D, a bit dim).

The Benq w1200 is the better projector over the hc4000 in the same price range for larger screens as long as you don't do gaming, if you are a gamer then scratch the w1200 from your list (it has extreme lag).

Dark movies equals high native contrast such as JVC. None the less, the LG should look better than your local theater. It's really not known to have great black levels or good contrast. A refurb Epson 8700 is a better option. The Epson 5010 would have been the best option of current projectors for such a large screen.

sling_ca, there is a much more important issue that I do not see addressed.
For the HP screen to work correctly your projector MUST be mounted directly over the views heads AS CLOSE TO EYE LEVEL AS POSSIBLE. You have a little wiggle room, max gain is right at the projector lens and it drops off the father below/above you go. You would not want the projector beam much more than 15" over you seated eye level with that size screen.
This means either a back room "though the wall hole" mount behind the seating, shelf mount free standing or wall mounted behind the seating, ceiling mounted with very long extensions pole. Or the old fashioned table mount in front of seat. With that size screen, you will want all the gain you can get. So for any of those mounting positions, you will most definitely need Lens Shift. The table mount would be about the only way to do a projector without it and have some gain from the screen. This fact will eliminate some of your projector choices.
I have the older HP 2.8 gain and table mount my DLP projector because it has no lens shift. Of course my screen is tiny and we only have 2 seats..
Good luck in your projector hunt