projector setup for basement

Only a 92" screen?
A limited budget?

You didn't win the battle, your wife did!



seriously though -
You'll have to look at the different projector's you're interested in. They'll tell you how much room they for airflow. Most 'flush' mounts will still give you about 3-4", which is probably enough. The main thing is usually airflow around the sides/back of the projector.

LCDs are fine for fast movement/sports/etc. maybe that wasn't always the case, but I had a panny ax100. Superbowl looked perfect on that.

You've got a perfect room though for a projector just slightly out of your price range. The sharp z12000K MarkII is considered the best 720P DLP machine around.

It's a long throw projector, but your room is perfect. It works best in a good light controlled environment (you're in a basement - perfect). It's recommend to use a screen less than 100" (high gain if you go much above that). Your screen size is perfect.

It has horizontal shift. If you had to drop it 6-8 inches from the ceiling, you wouldn't need to worry about offset at all. You could shift the image up/down easily.

It has phenomenal black levels and a superb picture. If you're watching sports, you can run in high brightness mode and still enjoy a superb pic.

But it's out of your price level by just a bit. However, if you could scrounge up $500 more green, you'd be in heaven.

The Sharp 12k is about $500 over your budget but has lens shift. The Optoma 7100 is about $1800 after rebate and also has lens shift.

LCDs should be fine for sports. The two LCD's I would look at are the Epson 400 for $900 after rebate and the Benq w500 $1000, which is new and has a very high end video processor.

You can always tilt the projector and use keystone. Most people who have used keystone don't find a problem with it, although technically it should degrade the image somewhat.

My basement ceiling is 6'4 and my screen size is 6'x 8' (120) and projector mounted with a negative offset and at zero keystone and is DLP.

So there is something out there for every application and budget and you are doing the right thing by planning first and buying second. Don't limit yourself to a small image size. (like I would have ever thought 92 was small)

Below is a picture and links to my setup. How to pack the most into a small space.

drmikjones - I have the exact same setup (12' distance - 7'1" drop ceiling). I have a 4805 which I think has a pretty healthy offset, yet it works just fine. My mount is no more than a white wire storage kitchen rack mounted to peg board cut to replace a ceiling tile. I have a pic, but have no idea how to post it. Anyway, it acts as a sleeve which holds my PJ flush against the ceiling. Remember, the bottom of the PJ is actually against the ceiling since it's upside-down, so it's really no different than a table mount from a cooling perspective. It's not the prettiest mount, but it works great, it's open for cooling and it allows easy removal of the PJ for maintenance. My screen is simply white paint on the wall. It used to be 92", but I upsized it to 106" when 92" started to just seem like a big screen instead of a movie screen. One of the great advantages of a painted-on-the-wall screen. Cut a new frame, roll on a little more paint and you have a whole new size screen for next-to-nothing. Anyway, that's off topic. I think you can use any projector with 30 degree offset or less and you'll be fine as long as you can mount flush up against the ceiling.

GJ