2.35 Screen Size Advice

Ok, so I love this site and have been scrounging for advice and tips about home theaters. I'm doing the final planning for my theater room before I start framing the room and am stuck on how big my screen should/could be. I have a space in my basement that is 18' W x 20' L that I can use. Now, looking around at some screen options, I am thinking about an Elite ezFrame Fixed Acoustically Transparent 2.35 screen because they have good reviews and are well priced. They make those 2.35s in a 125", 138" and 158" diagonal size (or at least the sizes I'm looking at). I've looked around for screen size tips and I am just stuck on if the 158" is just too big and if it is possible with the projectors I'm looking at... Looks like the 138" screen would work fine (I could be wrong on that as well...). The projectors I'm considering are the JVC DLA-RS45U, JVC DLA-X30BU, or the Panasonic PT-AE7000 that do a 2.35 scope with the lens memory (will possibly consider an actual 2.35 lens in the future but not now).

Here is an aerial view of the layout at the moment with a 158" screen on the viewing wall:



Couple considerations/reasons for my chosen layout:

• Viewing wall already exists at 18'. Moving it back isn't a very feasible option as it is load bearing, HVAC unit is located in back left corning on the opposing wall and the HVAC plenum is running along the top wall entirely.
• Adjacent family room area is big enough already so I'm not concerned with the 18' width 'eating' up that space by a couple of feet.
• Current layout has 11 seats and I would like to maximize my seating with theater loungers. I could make the room less wide and do less seating which would then definitely 'force' me to not consider the 158" screen but like the seating count/layout as it is.
• Will have two rows of seating that would put the first row around 14 foot back and the second row about 19 foot back.
• The majority of my viewing will be movies and the rest sports in 16:9. The 158" 2.35 screen can fit a 126" diagonal 16:9 screen and the 138" can fit a 110" 16:9 diagonal screen, both of which I will fine with.
• Room will have no ambient light, no windows and all lighting will be controlled and thus dark when viewing.
• Components will be on a rack in the utility room out of sight.
• Will put in a fiber optic star field ceiling in with a soffit running around the outside border of the room except on the screen wall as I don't have the room height for that. I want to have the projector mounted as far back in the room as possible out of the star field ceilling or within it's own little cabinet in the soffit that will put it 18' to 20' back.
• 11.2 speaker setup will be recessed within or behind walls, soffit or columns.

With all that:

1. Will the front row be overwhelmed with a 158" diagonal 2.35 screen (or even the 138") and have to be scrolling their heads back and forth to view and get eye strain?
2. I've used the projectorcentral.com calculator about positioning the above mentioned projectors back the 18' to 20' foot and while the 158"/138" screens do fall within the range of possible 2.35 screen sizes it "recommends a higher brightness" projector? Will these just not work with getting a good bright and clear picture?

Anyone that has such 2.35 screen sizes or experience with such, what is your room layout/seating distance? Please share any experience, tips, advice, and comments (positive or negative)!

Sorry, the 158" is the diagonal so it would be 62.1 sq. ft for that screen. Here the dimensions for the screens I'm looking at.



How are you determining how many Lumens necessary for screen size/distance?

Wilscam, many thanks for the advice. I recall coming across your theater thread a couple months ago but missed subscribing to it (am now...). Checked it out from what I have missed and you have created a really nice setup. Love that front acoustic wall. I didn't really consider being to close to the back wall in relation to the rear speakers and will have to take that into consideration when building my riser so I can get the optimum seating setup going (both visually and acoustically).

The larger screen (145" wide - 158" diagonal) I'm considering is pretty close to yours, 5" wider, but with my seating potentially being back a few feet more you still would suggest the 126" wide screen (138 diagonal)? So if you did yours again would you consider going slightly smaller, considering your first row? Looking at the Screen Excellence you have, I realize that the next size down is 130" wide but in your opinion if you could get that or somewhere in between would you size down slightly or keep the 140" for your first row?

stanger89, I didn't consider dimming either. Looking around, looks like some PJs can loose up to 50% of light after 1000 hours or so. And with trying to get in the 16 ftL - 20 ftL range, that is around 975 - 1220 Lumens for the larger 145" wide screen (before dimming). Think I will try to go and try to view some of these in person, particularly with the JVCs only being rated around 1200 Lumens (I realize Lumens aren't everything) but with the size I am thinking about, it will definitely think it will make a difference. There are some home theater shops around my area, one that is a JVC dealer so i will see what they have going.

Mike,

So I guess I don't understand how the the AE7000 or RS45 projects the 2.35 image... So when determining the Lumen / ftL needed for a 2.35 screen image with a projector that doesn't use a cinemascope lens, I still need to calculate the screen area using a 16:9 image based on the width of the 2.35 screen?

Jeff,

Thanks for the info. I checked out your theater and it looks pretty awesome. You have a similiar sized theater as what I will have and it helps out a lot to see what you have done and I am going to go through your thread to see your tips and lessons learned. My diagram is to scale and my measurements are correct as it is laid out but how functional it is, well that may be another story. I'm not sure how big your Berkline seats are but the seats I'm looking at are Palliser Stereos which for a double arm, |O|, is 34" wide, a single arm, O| or |O, is 28" wide and a seat with no arms, O, is 23" wide, so my back row of |OO|O|O|OO| should be 163". My room should end up being approximately 17' 4.5" (so 208.5") leaving 45" total width on the back row after the seats, so just under 2 feet on each side which is shown. The steps I have going up to the platform are 32" wide a piece plus the 135" wide first row layout, |OO|O|OO|, which gives me about 4" or so between the edge of the step and the sides of the seats. My riser platform is also 5' 8" deep which I think should give enough depth but the Palliser site doesn't give any length dimensions of a fully reclined seat so I could be wrong on that. Looks like with what you and willscam have shared and what Mike from AVS has recently mentioned, the 145" 2.35 screen would be out of the question (mainly due to not a powerful enough projector w/o a lens) so I will probably be looking at the 127" wide 2.35 screen or something similar to that size from another brand and see about adjusting the depth of the seating layout.

Yeah, i did sit in these at a home theater shop nearby. After sitting in a bunch of their seats, they probably had 8 or so seats on display, I liked these the best. And to my surprise, when I asked how much the those gray leather seats cost (they were gray), they said the Palliser Stereos were the least expensive seats on display and it wasn't leather but some micro fiber leather material. Now, I didn't sit in them for an extended period of time so I will go back to give them a better test drive than what I did when I was browsing around before purchasing.

I agree about the legs extending. Will be playing with my the seating arrangement to get more leg and aisle space so that doesn't become an issue I regret

Also, definitely going to follow your advise in your thread about the screen size:

1) Wait until the room is complete before actually buying the projector
2) Wait until you have the projector before finalizing the screen size
3) Test screen size in the real space before hitting the "Buy" button...

Willscam, thanks for the more detailed explanation. I want that large, enveloping picture mentioned and will follow juator's advice in picking the projector/screen mentioned in my last post which will probably lead me to a similarly sized screen as yours . Now having to replace a bulb yearly.... Not sure how my lady will be liking that but that is a whole other problem to deal with.

Carp, thanks for your input. Yeah that 158" 2.35 screen you have looks sweet but how are you getting the 2.35 image with the Epson 8350? Are you using a lens or are you just zooming in on the projected 16:9 image to fill the 2.35 screen with the black bars projecting off the white screen?

Nice. Makes sense. I'll have to consider that as my wife keeps on having a heart attack when I tell her the costs of things and with starting up from scratch pretty much, the total rises pretty quick. So doing something like that works for the time being and then I can consider upgrading to something 'legit' down the line. Wondering if the black bars would be even less obvious if you had darker walls...? Thanks again for the input.