[nailimexam]

Hi,


I am mainly looking for advice on which room to use, and screen size/color suggestions depending on room and projector.


I'm looking at getting an HC4000 or an 8350.


Here are my main room options:


Here are some rough sizes:


Living room: 10' high x 14' wide' 30' long

-"dull" green walls, white ceiling, wood floor covered by blue oriental rug


Foyer: 10' high x 9' wide x 20' long

-walls: 1/2 dark brown wood paneling, 1/2 off-white (yellowish), same off white ceiling, wood floor covered by two black coffee tables


Landing: 10' high x 13' wide x 20' long

-light gray walls, white ceiling,

-floor: 1/2 wood floor at 10' height, 1/2 empty space (stairwell) with variable 20' height.


There are some smaller rooms, but figured I'd have less of a problem with ambient light in the larger rooms.



Not sure about screen size, I was thinking about maybe 120" 16:9 at 14' viewing distance?


I am not able to paint any of the rooms, and would like to hold off on expensive velvet wall curtains for now.


I thought of an unorthodox setup that might help reduce ambient light:

The living room is 30' long x 14' wide. What if I put the screen on the long wall ? That way there would be no side walls reflecting light. The rug is dark, and the 10' ceiling maybe would allow me to mount the screen low enough to avoid too much ceiling reflection. There is also a large gap in the wall across from that screen position; I could maybe put the projector through that gap into the adjacent room if I wanted a longer throw. I could also hang one velvet curtain on either side of the gap to further minimize ambient light.


However, it might look more stunning (or more natural) to have the screen on a short wall in one of the three rooms, if ambient light isn't a problem.


Any thoughts?


Thanks

 

[simpletwig]

I'd suggest getting some grid paper and making a plan of the room, 1 square = 1 foot, show doors and windows, and do a couple of schemes (from copies) showing how you would place furniture. You might find yourself answering some of your own questions.


Windows next to perpendicular walls will throw a lot of light into a room, but if the windows are punched and away from the walls ambient light isn't as much of an issue. A photo of the room would help too.

 

[CNWDI]

Agree with Simpletwig that it's probably worth drawing up a floorplan--but there are a lot of other items that you haven't described which would also help anyone trying to provide you suggestions. You haven't said anything about your plans for speakers (in-wall, behind AT screen, floorstanding next to screen, are you going to do 5.1, 7.1, or what?) or the types of things you're going to watch (mostly 16x9 HD sports and some movies, or mostly widescreen, or what?)


In my case, I had an unfinished basement space that was basically 16'x30' with concrete on three sides and the fourth side open to the rest of the basement. There were two casement windows about 128" apart on the short wall. If I did a screen on the long wall then I could go as wide as I wanted, but with only 7'8" ceilings after DD+GG I really couldn't go much wider than 14' even for a 2.35:1 CinemaScope-style screen. Trying to figure out where to put surround speakers would also have gotten a little strange if the screen was on the long wall.


For my situation, the screen on the short wall means that action will be at least somewhat viewable from 40' away in the next room...but it's hard to know what to say about your situation without a little more info to give context. Good luck.