[jch1]

Hi All,

I just purchased the w1070 and had a question on its placement. Right in the middle of the optimal range for placing the PJ for an 110 inch screen there is a pipe that supplies steam heat to 1) the basement and 2) the remainder of the house. I've measured how much vertical room I have if I were to mount the PJ behind the pipe, and it's sufficient for mounting the screen properly (I think the top of the screen is supposed to be more than 3" from the lens, which is no problem). My question is this- if I were to mount the PJ behind the pipe, I probably would put it so it's pretty close to it.

When the pipe heats up to around 200 degrees F, will this have an adverse affect on 1) the PJ or 2) the light coming from the lens? That is, I don't want the image on the screen to be distorted when the pipe heats up due to the pipe emitting visible heat waves. I hope that makes sense.

The alternative is placing the PJ in front of the pipe completely so that the back of the PJ is near the pipe. Doing so would leave about 9.5' from the lens to the wall, so it would be towards the limit of how close I could get. Is this the more reasonable route?

One more thing. The pipe itself is about 5 inches below the ceiling, so with the PJ behind the pipe, I would have to drop it down to around 6-8 inches off the ceiling. If I went in front of the pipe, I could leave the PJ as close to the ceiling as I want.

Thanks!

 

[AV_Integrated]

Hi All,

I just purchased the w1070 and had a question on its placement. Right in the middle of the optimal range for placing the PJ for an 110 inch screen there is a pipe that supplies steam heat to 1) the basement and 2) the remainder of the house. I've measured how much vertical room I have if I were to mount the PJ behind the pipe, and it's sufficient for mounting the screen properly (I think the top of the screen is supposed to be more than 3" from the lens, which is no problem). My question is this- if I were to mount the PJ behind the pipe, I probably would put it so it's pretty close to it.

When the pipe heats up to around 200 degrees F, will this have an adverse affect on 1) the PJ or 2) the light coming from the lens? That is, I don't want the image on the screen to be distorted when the pipe heats up due to the pipe emitting visible heat waves. I hope that makes sense.

The alternative is placing the PJ in front of the pipe completely so that the back of the PJ is near the pipe. Doing so would leave about 9.5" from the lens to the wall, so it would be towards the limit of how close I could get. Is this the more reasonable route?

One more thing. The pipe itself is about 5 inches below the ceiling, so with the PJ behind the pipe, I would have to drop it down to around 6-8 inches off the ceiling. If I went in front of the pipe, I could leave the PJ as close to the ceiling as I want.

Thanks!

The lens must be about 2" to 5" or so above the screen. It may not be higher, it may not be lower. This typically means that the projector is about 6" to 12" from a 8' ceiling with normal sized screens.

With your 110" screen, you must have the lens between 9'2" and 12' from the screen. You said it would be about 9'6" from the screen, which is an acceptable figure.

You should be fully aware that projectors are very much heat sensitive electronics, as all electronics are, and there should be cool air flowing around the projector at all times. If you have a hot-pipe near the projector, I would insulate the pipe to keep air temperature down, and if need-be, I would add a small fan in the room which could circulate cool air around the projector.

The projector should shut down automatically if it finds that the temperature is to hot.

I would probably go in front of the pipe.

 

[airscapes]

I would place the projector on a table and find the closest spot possible to achieve your desired screen size. if you are still within a foot of the pipe I would then move the table back to the farthest location to see how much room you have for sure. Then I would rig a temp support or just hold the projector at ceiling to see how far below the pipe the projector could be mounted and still hit the screen at the desired height WITHOUT using any lens shift. From what i have read the lens on this projector is far from the perfect and the more shift you use the more chance you will have of distortion and uneven focus uniformity.
Measuring is good but a functional test will be best.

If I had to make the compromise of mounting behind the pipe and using lens shift, or close to the pipe in front, I would probably go in front of the pipe and make some type of heat shield using 1/2 rigid foam insulation board. The foam can be painted any color, is very easy to work with using a utility knife and can be put together with white glue and nails just like wood. I is also very light in weight. As was mentioned you could also use pipe wrap to insulate the pipe itself and add the shield if there was still considerable heat from the pipe after insulating it
Hope that helps!

 

[jch1]

Thanks guys. I'll definitely look into adding insulation to a small portion of the pipe which will be near the PJ, but the important consideration is that I don't want to completely insulate this pipe as it provides the only source of heat to the basement.

My ceilings are actually rather low in the basement, as they are approx 6'10"-11". I'm going with the Silver Ticket 110 inch screen which measures 58.75" tall with the masking. I wish I could go larger, but the projecting wall is exactly (edit) 10 feet wide and I don't want to go with an AT screen, so I need some room for my speakers. Maybe it is possible to go up to 120", but that would only leave me with 11" worth of space for speakers on the sides, which I don't think is enough.

So with the 110" screen, I can easily set the screen height to the appropriate amount (e.g., 2-5 inches below the lens). It seems like going in front of the pipe and insulating the area directly by it is the best route.

 

[RTankster]

move the pipe!

 

[jch1]

move the pipe!

I wish it were that easy, but it certainly is not. not sure how much you know about steam heat (used for radiators), but one pipe systems require the pipe to be pitched properly so condensate can return to the boiler after traveling to the radiators. To be frank, I have no idea how I could go about moving the pipe while retaining the proper pitch. It would be very expensive to do.

The other consideration for me is that while this is in my house that I own, we probably will be moving within the next 5-9 years, so while I'm looking for a permanent solution, I know I'll be planning a different system in a few years. Hopefully the next place we move to has an even better setup.

 

[dreamer]

I wish it were that easy, but it certainly is not. not sure how much you know about steam heat (used for radiators), but one pipe systems require the pipe to be pitched properly so condensate can return to the boiler after traveling to the radiators. To be frank, I have no idea how I could go about moving the pipe while retaining the proper pitch. It would be very expensive to do.

The other consideration for me is that while this is in my house that I own, we probably will be moving within the next 5-9 years, so while I'm looking for a permanent solution, I know I'll be planning a different system in a few years. Hopefully the next place we move to has an even better setup.

I'm having trouble with your measurements. You say the screen wall is 12'. A 120" screen has an image area only 106" wide, leaving 38" or 19" on either side of the screen for speakers, not 11". The width of the frame doesn't count as it doesn't matter if the speaker blocks the frame.

The image area should begin about 18" off the floor for a 120" screen, which puts the top of the image at 77" which is about even with the bottom of the steam pipe. You actually need a minimum of 2" or so below the lens to the top of the screen image, which is a problem even before adding insulation around the pipe. Combined with getting some distance between pipe and projector, means the screen has to go much closer to the floor than usual.

Have you considered putting the projector under a side table between two of the seats so it is shining up and is nowhere near the steam pipe ?

 

[jch1]

My apologies, I wasn't clear before.

First, putting the PJ under a side table between seats isn't possible because our seating won't allow it (currently have a long sectional and will be getting a row of 5 theater seats which are all connected due to space constraints) and I'd be afraid that our dog would constantly walk by it and block its path. I'm fairly confident that insulation on the pipe will keep things cool.

I was hesitant to use a 120" screen because I don't really want to have overlap from my speakers into the frame area. I've read the "blackout" thread, and I realize I will likely need to put velvet or some similar material on the sides of the speakers to eliminate any reflections, but I feel I could avoid this more by going with a smaller screen and placing the speakers further out.

I have HSU's HB-1 MK2 speakers which are 8 inches wide each. I would angle the L and R speakers inwards so they are pointing towards a user sitting at the middle of the screen, meaning they would actually extend inwards by 10 or so inches each. Wouldn't this be pretty close to cutting off a portion of the viewable area for a 120" screen? Should I just have them facing straight out? I feel this wouldn't be ideal placement.

Are those numbers you provided for the 120 or 110 inch screen? If I have to move the screen down 5-10 inches, I don't mind really, but I'm guessing those are for a 120" screen, which would mean a 110" screen would have fewer issues with placement.

 

[dreamer]

My apologies, I wasn't clear before.

First, putting the PJ under a side table between seats isn't possible because our seating won't allow it (currently have a long sectional and will be getting a row of 5 theater seats which are all connected due to space constraints) and I'd be afraid that our dog would constantly walk by it and block its path. I'm fairly confident that insulation on the pipe will keep things cool.

I was hesitant to use a 120" screen because I don't really want to have overlap from my speakers into the frame area. I've read the "blackout" thread, and I realize I will likely need to put velvet or some similar material on the sides of the speakers to eliminate any reflections, but I feel I could avoid this more by going with a smaller screen and placing the speakers further out.

I have HSU's HB-1 MK2 speakers which are 8 inches wide each. I would angle the L and R speakers inwards so they are pointing towards a user sitting at the middle of the screen, meaning they would actually extend inwards by 10 or so inches each. Wouldn't this be pretty close to cutting off a portion of the viewable area for a 120" screen? Should I just have them facing straight out? I feel this wouldn't be ideal placement.

Are those numbers you provided for the 120 or 110 inch screen? If I have to move the screen down 5-10 inches, I don't mind really, but I'm guessing those are for a 120" screen, which would mean a 110" screen would have fewer issues with placement.

All measurement were for a 120" screen, which is actually pretty small for more than a single row of seating. It would end up only 12" off the floor after the projector lens offset and a couple of inches distance from the pipe. That's fine for only one row of seating. For two rows of seating, with the second row up on a 15" tall riser platform, seeing the bottom of the screen will still be fine, but headroom seems too low.

 

[jch1]

Unfortunately, I only have a room that's about 13 or 14 feet deep, so I can only have one row of seating. I think I'm okay with it being that low to the ground, but I have concerns with the speakers extending into the screen area still. FYI, heads would be about 11 or 12 feet from the screen.

 

[dreamer]

Unfortunately, I only have a room that's about 13 or 14 feet deep, so I can only have one row of seating. I think I'm okay with it being that low to the ground, but I have concerns with the speakers extending into the screen area still. FYI, heads would be about 11 or 12 feet from the screen.

"...(currently have a long sectional and will be getting a row of 5 theater seats which are all connected due to space constraints) ..."

You can see my confusion.

With a 120" screen, I wouldn't go further than 11' eyes to screen.

 

[jch1]

Hopefully I can clarify a bit.

The room in my basement is actually very long. It's about 50 feet x 13'. Before I go any further, I can't project onto the 14' wall b/c it leads to another bedroom, so I would have to use a motorized screen (that would have to be placed below the pipe, meaning people would have to duck their heads to enter the other room). Long story short, that's not going to happen.

On the projecting wall, I have exactly 10 feet from the side wall to a fireplace which juts into the room a bit. On the opposite wall, I have 190" worth of space to put seating. This obviously means that some of the seating will be off-center and will require me to angle the seats towards the screen, something I'm aware of and intend to do. I also know those seats won't be ideal, but that's not a concern. Directly above this seating area is the steam pipe.

I currently have a long sectional sofa consuming this 190" space. Perhaps the confusion is here: I am replacing the sofa with the theater seating down the road, and am not keeping both. I definitely don't have the headroom or depth of the room to have two rows.

I still am not convinced that 120 would work, but I'll have to mask it out I suppose. Do these PJs allow you to enter a desired screen size and it projects that size onto the wall or do you have to do it manually?

 

[AV_Integrated]

Projectors have a zoom ring and a focus ring, just like on SLR type cameras.

 

[jch1]

What I'm wondering is if I can actually know what size image I'm projecting without measuring it out myself. Are you saying there's an indication on the zoom or focus ring that provides sizing information?

 

[AV_Integrated]

What I'm wondering is if I can actually know what size image I'm projecting without measuring it out myself. Are you saying there's an indication on the zoom or focus ring that provides sizing information?

Nope! Just like a camera. The projector doesn't know how close/far you are from the wall, so it has no idea what size you are projecting. It's all in the optics, there is nothing digital there to figure things out.

You will have to measure to determine the sizes you are working with.

 

[Moosebox]

What I'm wondering is if I can actually know what size image I'm projecting without measuring it out myself. Are you saying there's an indication on the zoom or focus ring that provides sizing information?

You do it manually via zoom and focus rings. You would need to measure the projected image to know the exact size.

 

[jch1]

Got it, thanks!

 

[dreamer]

Hopefully I can clarify a bit.


On the projecting wall, I have exactly 10 feet from the side wall to a fireplace which juts into the room a bit.

I still am not convinced that 120 would work, but I'll have to mask it out I suppose. Do these PJs allow you to enter a desired screen size and it projects that size onto the wall or do you have to do it manually?

In post# 4 you said the projecting wall was exactly 12 feet wide, now you say it is only 10 feet to the fireplace. If it is really only 10', then a 120" screen may not fit depending on the actual size of the speakers. Your original 12' figure would be no problem with any speaker I've seen, but 2' narrower makes a huge difference. Could you post a sketch with the actual measurements ? Your plan for seating off-axis and a fireplace close by and a wall to one side with 40' of open area to the other all sounds less than ideal. We'd be happy to look at a sketch and offer suggestions on other arrangements of a 13x50 area. With that much space, you shouldn't have to make the kind of compromises you are talking about.

 

[jch1]

Sorry, it's 10 feet, or 120 inches wide to the fireplace. I'm attaching four pictures I took this morning. Again, I know the colors are terrible, but that's how the house came when we purchased it, and haven't yet painted.

You'll see that as of current, my TV is on the same wall that the door is on. My initial thought was to project onto that wall and get an automatic screen, but that wouldn't be ideal as far as quality goes, and you'd have to duck to get into that room. I also failed to mention that there's a bar to the other side of the fireplace which can be seen in the photos, so there's not much that can be done there. You can also see the pipe that was the initial source of my questioning, and the PJ sitting on a ledge used to hide the foundation.

In the shot where there's a portion of the couch, fan, speaker, and fireplace, that's where I plan to project onto. That's the 10 foot wide wall I was referring to. I also considered possibly extending the screen into the fireplace area, but that wouldn't look visually pleasing.

In the angled picture where you can see the fireplace, couch, and door, that's actually much further to the right than the offset seating would be.

Really, I guess I don't actually have that much room for the theater.

 

[jch1]

Is there a secret to attaching photos? I dragged them into the area, but no luck.