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could use some guidance on what projector to buy for dedicated theatre room

438 views 12 replies 3 participants last post by  AV_Integrated 
#1 ·
Hey guys,


I am thinking about doing a dedicated theater room in my new house . the room is 11 by 13. I Will solely watch movies on here and with my 70 inch TV I use now , I can't stand losing all the screen space to black bars. I use apple TV ,and bluray . both are generally more a 2.35ish aspect ratio source (am I correct ).. So ideally I would like to have the projector ready for that ratio. Can I accomplish this without A anamorphic lenses?Do they make one that senses it automatically and Adjust.


Any idea how big a screen I could do with those room dimensions ?

The room will be black out with ambient lighting . My budget is roughly 2k with The screen as well



Thoughts?

Thanks, I'm on a tablet and typing sucks
 
#2 ·
An anamorphic lens is usually an expensive way to go and the only benefit is a tiny bit of additional brightness (which most dark rooms are fine without) and they cause you to lose a lot of resolution due to the vertical image stretch they require. I'd suggest simply keeping the top/bottom area of your screen masked.


They do make projectors with zoom/lens memory that can change back and forth with the press of a button on the remote, but that just shrinks your 16:9 to have equal hight as 1:2.35. Masking is probably cheaper than restricting yourself to a smaller choice of projectors (there aren't many/any cheap PJs with lens/zoom memory) and you'll have a larger screen available for the few 16:9 videos you DO watch.


A 13ft room should let you get a 110-120" 16:9 diagonal. You'd probably have to pick up a short-throw PJ if you wanted to go bigger which limits your options pretty hard once again. A 110-120" in that size room is plenty for most..it'll only leave about 1.5-2ft of wall on each side of the screen for speakers.
 
#3 ·
Going with a 12' throw distance (lens to screen) and a 120" diagonal, these are the projectors that can work to hit a 1.78 (16:9) screen:

http://www.projectorcentral.com/projectors.cfm?g=1&hide=0&st=1&mfg=&p=500&p=3000&w=&r=13&br=&ll=&ltg=&t=&db=&dt=&c=&ar=&dvi=&wr=&pjl=&pjw=&pjh=&td=12&i=d&is=120&sort=pop&sz=15


Pretty good list, and the popular BenQ W1070 leads the list. It also can go a bit larger/smaller from that distance which is nice.


The 120" 16:9 size will leave you black bars, but you can mask them down as you want, and should. Your budget is nothing if you are trying to get around the standards of what you are buying.


I'm going with the belief that you will have a fixed frame, on-wall screen for this, so you can add top/bottom masking to the screen if you would like to frame it down to 2.35 aspect ratio as you desire. This is, by far, the best solution considering your budget..


You will likely still be in a situation where you will have to build the masking system yourself. Just some black velour from a fabric store and some wood panels from the hardware store cut to size and properly glued into place.
 
#4 ·
Thank you very much. Ill take a look. This may seem like a stupid question but by masking, do you mean on the projector or do you mean doing something specific with the screen . I plan on buying a fixed screen and mount it on the wall. The ones i've seen have had a few inches of black framing in the whole thing. When I read masking... for some reason I picture putting something over the top and bottom of the lens as a cover blocking the black bars from being projected onto the wall.



Do the black bars show if they are beyond the white screen?



With the projector you mentioned, would I be able to adjust it easily to play DirectTV 16:9 ratio in the rare times I watch that format?



Thank you for your help.
 
#5 ·
Thank you very much. Ill take a look. This may seem like a stupid question but by masking, do you mean on the projector or do you mean doing something specific with the screen . I plan on buying a fixed screen and mount it on the wall. The ones i've seen have had a few inches of black framing in the whole thing. When I read masking... for some reason I picture putting something over the top and bottom of the lens as a cover blocking the black bars from being projected onto the wall.



Do the black bars show if they are beyond the white screen?



With the projector you mentioned, would I be able to adjust it easily to play DirectTV 16:9 ratio in the rare times I watch that format?



Thank you for your help.
 
#6 ·
Thank you very much. Ill take a look. This may seem like a stupid question but by masking, do you mean on the projector or do you mean doing something specific with the screen . I plan on buying a fixed screen and mount it on the wall. The ones i've seen have had a few inches of black framing in the whole thing. When I read masking... for some reason I picture putting something over the top and bottom of the lens as a cover blocking the black bars from being projected onto the wall.



Do the black bars show if they are beyond the white screen?



With the projector you mentioned, would I be able to adjust it easily to play DirectTV 16:9 ratio in the rare times I watch that format?



Thank you for your help.
 
#7 ·
Thank you very much. Ill take a look. This may seem like a stupid question but by masking, do you mean on the projector or do you mean doing something specific with the screen . I plan on buying a fixed screen and mount it on the wall. The ones i've seen have had a few inches of black framing in the whole thing. When I read masking... for some reason I picture putting something over the top and bottom of the lens as a cover blocking the black bars from being projected onto the wall.



Do the black bars show if they are beyond the white screen?



With the projector you mentioned, would I be able to adjust it easily to play DirectTV 16:9 ratio in the rare times I watch that format? Its very affordable and has a somewhat low contract ratio. Is it worth spending a little more to getting a higher ratio??





Also after reviewing the list you posted,. I noticed there were 2 types of technology . DLP and LCD. What is the difference in terms of projectors? I know the same technology applies to television screen


Thank you for your help.
 
#8 ·
Thank you very much. Ill take a look. This may seem like a stupid question but by masking, do you mean on the projector or do you mean doing something specific with the screen . I plan on buying a fixed screen and mount it on the wall. The ones i've seen have had a few inches of black framing in the whole thing. When I read masking... for some reason I picture putting something over the top and bottom of the lens as a cover blocking the black bars from being projected onto the wall.



Do the black bars show if they are beyond the white screen?



With the projector you mentioned, would I be able to adjust it easily to play DirectTV 16:9 ratio in the rare times I watch that format? Its very affordable and has a somewhat low contract ratio. Is it worth spending a little more to getting a higher ratio??





Also after reviewing the list you posted,. I noticed there were 2 types of technology . DLP and LCD. What is the difference in terms of projectors? I know the same technology applies to television screen


Thank you for your help.
 
#10 ·
No, get a 16:9 screen, and get large pieces of wood and attach them to the wall to frame the 16:9 screen down to 2.35.


There is nothing about your room or setup that suggests to me that you should have a 2.35 screen. It will only cost you image quality for your 1.78 content, and zero improvement in size or quality for your 2.35 content.


Carada offers a 1.78 to 2.35 masking system which is pricey, but what I am talking about:
http://www.carada.com/HorizontalMasquerade.aspx


Cheaper to make something you manually install yourself as you need it. Most people just live with the black bars.
 
#11 ·
Unless you are very sensitive to RBE, DLP is holding all the advantages at your price level. A majority of LCD units offer the ability to make a smaller screen from a longer distance, but you are looking in the other direction so this doesn't matter. You'll have to pay almost 2X as much to get an LCD with similar measured contrast as a DLP in the $1200 and under. DLP also has less visible pixel-structure which is always nice for anyone that likes to sit fairly close..and it sounds like you'll be pretty close. You can get a nice DLP for under $1000 and have trouble beating its picture with any LCD under $1800.
 
#13 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by BluRay Hoarder  /t/1527711/could-use-some-guidance-on-what-projector-to-buy-for-dedicated-theatre-room#post_24619662


Thank you for the advice. Can I ask a stupid question and throw in 4k. I know that changes the budget significantly but im curious if that technology is about to be a standard or if we are years off.
If your budget is $3,000 then you can wait about 2 years to get something within your budget with 4K. There is ZERO readily available content at this point. So, even after 4K is on the market, content is not right there ready to go for it. Skipping 4K for several years is a good plan.
 
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