Hi all. It's been a long while since I have been in the market for a PJ as I am still thrilled with the theater room unit I bought years ago, and still don't plan on replacing it.
This time around I need a projector for my living room, or great room as my wife calls it
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. I have a rectangular room about 20'x16'. The far long wall has two french doors, one short wall has a three segment 6'x3' casement window, the other short wall contains a large built in fireplace with stone surround all the way up to the angled cathedral peak at 21', the other long wall is mostly a half wall open to the dining room then kitchen {open floor plan} and on this wall I put up a 52 plasma and a glass shelf equipment unit. THE ROOM JUST DOSENT WORK. The far wall, being about all glass that looks out over rolling hills and timber is a strong focal point as is the short wall with the fireplace and extensive stone work. I then, in all my brilliance, decided to put a good size plasma on the long half wall joining the rest of the house AND POINT ALL THE FURNITURE AT THE PLASMA! Needless to say I have gotten more than a few uncomplimentary comments, not only from the wife, and its time to remedy the problem. The easy way out would be to just return to no display in the living room, there's other displays large and small everywhere else to watch, but if I can pull off a projection setup that works well I think it would see quite a bit of use.
So the next plan of attack involves removing the plasma and equipment shelf and implementing a projector and an electric screen hidden above the french doors, ready to drop down when needed. This should allow me to arrange the furniture naturally again and all should be fine with the look and flow of the room.
My concern about the projector for this location is that it be bright enough to handle whatever light I cannot control by use of blinds on the doors and window in the room. The room also has several large skylights in the cathedral ceiling, none of which are positioned to allow light directly on the screen, but they do certainly brighten the room. The room is also open to quite a bit of non-direct lighting from the rest of the rooms on the floor by way of it's half wall, open hallway, and above by way of the small overlook from the second floor.
That's a long way to go in order to ask about a projector recommendation, but I wanted to give a fair account of it's intended environment. The projector will see signals form satellite HD, HD-DVD, and Blu-ray. After a brief search here at the trusty forum I thought I would probably go with the Optoma HD71. I had also considered the Panasonic AX200U but thought it probably would not be quite bright enough, but Im not really sure? Same goes with the Epson Home Cinema 6100, although the extra resolution would certainly be nice, can it handle all the indirect light? For the projector I really do not wish to spend more than 2k. The electric screens are fairly pricey on there own, and I would like to upgrade the projector in the theater room within a year or so which will probably be quite a bit more money.
I would appreciate your comments on these three or any other units I may have overlooked that would be equal to the task.
Thanks for the help,
Chris
This time around I need a projector for my living room, or great room as my wife calls it
So the next plan of attack involves removing the plasma and equipment shelf and implementing a projector and an electric screen hidden above the french doors, ready to drop down when needed. This should allow me to arrange the furniture naturally again and all should be fine with the look and flow of the room.
My concern about the projector for this location is that it be bright enough to handle whatever light I cannot control by use of blinds on the doors and window in the room. The room also has several large skylights in the cathedral ceiling, none of which are positioned to allow light directly on the screen, but they do certainly brighten the room. The room is also open to quite a bit of non-direct lighting from the rest of the rooms on the floor by way of it's half wall, open hallway, and above by way of the small overlook from the second floor.
That's a long way to go in order to ask about a projector recommendation, but I wanted to give a fair account of it's intended environment. The projector will see signals form satellite HD, HD-DVD, and Blu-ray. After a brief search here at the trusty forum I thought I would probably go with the Optoma HD71. I had also considered the Panasonic AX200U but thought it probably would not be quite bright enough, but Im not really sure? Same goes with the Epson Home Cinema 6100, although the extra resolution would certainly be nice, can it handle all the indirect light? For the projector I really do not wish to spend more than 2k. The electric screens are fairly pricey on there own, and I would like to upgrade the projector in the theater room within a year or so which will probably be quite a bit more money.
I would appreciate your comments on these three or any other units I may have overlooked that would be equal to the task.
Thanks for the help,
Chris
