Finishing a basement and in need of advice

THX recommends that you take the screen diagonal size and divide it by .84 for seating distance from screen. So if your screen is 100" diagonal, you should sit at least 119" back. That is a little too close for me though. I prefer 1.5x the screen diagonal. So for a 100" screen, I like to sit at least 150" from the screen.

http://www.thx.com/consumer/home-entertainment/home-theater/hdtv-set-up/
http://myhometheater.homestead.com/viewingdistancecalculator.html

As far as which projector goes, you may need to find one with lens shift due to your low ceiling. LCDs are typically more flexible when it comes to placement, but some of the DLPs are now coming with lens shift. I would suggest you read some of the threads on the different projectors until you find a couple that interests you based on your typical viewing habits. There are calculators you can use that will help determine if they will fit in your environment.

Here is a calculator that you can use as a starting point: http://www.projectorcentral.com/projection-calculator-pro.cfm
They're known to be off so I would do some additional research before purchasing to make sure it will indeed fit in your room.
Edited by ondaedg - 3/20/13 at 11:01am

That will be a big screen for only 14'. Keep in mind that even though the room is 14', the space your furniture takes will cut that down at least a foot or two. You'll want to calculate your seating distance based on where your eyes will physically be in the room. So take everything into account such as furniture placement. I also recommend that you try out a screen that big and sit at that seating distance to see if you like it. Some may find that a screen that big at only 14' may cause excess eye movement which can cause headaches or nausea. Also keep in mind that you're going to need space on both sides of the screen for speakers. You don't want them too close to the side walls or it may affect the imaging of the sound. As far as projector recommendations, I'm not sure which projectors would be ideal for a 144" image at 14' and a low ceiling. I would visit projectorreviews.com or visit some of the individual projector threads. You will need a projector that can work with a low ceiling.

Another recommendation is to visit the home theater forum http://www.avsforum.com/f/3/home-entertainment-theater-builder . Some great stuff in there.

One more thing, a 144" screen will require a screen that is 86" high. That only leaves about 18" of vertical space for a center channel speaker.

http://www.draperinc.com/projectionscreens/CustomSizeCalculator.asp

My 126" is only 18" above the floor, using 2,12" onkyo inwalls standing vertically, in a side by side setup, works pretty well. The center spot for your 144" will be a little higher which may be a concern if your sitting arrangement, is lower to the floor? A difference of about 5" compared to my 126". As to pj's, several can light up the screen enough, especially if you consider upping the gain to around 1.3 and run in 'em in higher lamp mode which can be noisy and reduce the lamp life some.

I like using http://www.eliteprojectorcalculator.com/ for comparing brightness etc. Plug in numbers for the Epson 5010 there, it's close to the current 5020/6020 which are a tad brighter, and see if you can find a size/gain that might work. 144" is just a little tough due to the limited ceiling height for that setup.